Field Level Media’s Golf Glance provides weekly news and storylines from each of the major North American golf tours.
PGA TOUR
LAST TOURNAMENT: Sentry Tournament of Champions (Jon Rahm)
THIS WEEK: Sony Open, Honolulu, Hawaii, Jan. 12-15
Course: Waialae Country Club (Par 70, 7,044 yards)
Purse: $7.9M (Winner: $1.422M)
Defending Champion: Hideki Matsuyama
FedEx Cup leader: Seamus Power
HOW TO FOLLOW
TV: Thursday-Friday, 7-10:30 p.m. ET (Golf Channel); Saturday-Sunday, 4-6 p.m. (NBC), 6-8 p.m. (GC)
Streaming on ESPN+: Thursday-Friday, 12-10:30 p.m. ET; Saturday-Sunday, 1-8 p.m.
Twitter: @SonyOpenHawaii
NOTES: This is the 11th tournament of the FedEx Cup season and the first full-field event of 2023. … One of the longest-tenured venues on Tour, Waialae features narrow, tree-lined fairways and 83 bunkers. … Matsuyama beat Russell Henley in a playoff last year to earn his eighth PGA Tour victory. He is seeking to become the first player to successfully defend at the event since Jimmy Walker in 2014-15. … The field includes six players currently in the top 10 of the FedEx Cup standings. … Danny Guise will make his first PGA Tour start after a 9-for-1 playoff in the Monday qualifier. … Former top-ranked amateur Keita Nakajima is making his second career start on tour (T12 at the 2022 Zozo Championship). He finished 41st at the Sony Open as an amateur last year.
BEST BETS: Tom Kim (+1100 at BetMGM) is No. 3 in the FedEx Cup standings and the highest-ranked player in the field at No. 14. The 20-year-old two-time winner in 2022 is making his event debut while coming off a T5 in his first TOC appearance. … Sungjae Im (+1200) has seven top-20s in his past 10 worldwide starts as he seeks his first victory since 2021. … Jordan Spieth (+1600) is making his fifth start in the event but first since 2019. He has six top-20s in his past eight starts. … Matsuyama (+2000) doesn’t have a top-20 since the Tour Championship in August and none in a full-field event since the U.S. Open in June. However, with a win, he would break a tie with K.J. Choi for the most Tour wins by an Asian-born player. … Henley (+2200) won the event in 2013 in addition to his runner-up last year. … Taylor Montgomery (+3500) is still seeking his first Tour victory but is coming off a fall season in which he made all seven cuts and posted six top-15 finishes.
NEXT TOURNAMENT: The American Express, La Quinta, Calif., Jan. 19-22
LPGA Tour
LAST TOURNAMENT: CME Group Tour Championship (Lydia Ko)
THIS WEEK: OFF.
NEXT Tournament: Tournament of Champions, Orlando, Fla., Jan. 19-22
Champions Tour
LAST TOURNAMENT: Charles Schwab Championship (Padraig Harrington)
THIS WEEK: OFF.
NEXT Tournament: Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai, Ka’upulehu-Kona, Hawaii, Jan. 19-21
–Field Level Media